


Untitled

by NostalgiaMonster



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, Robot, Robots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-25 19:59:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6208114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NostalgiaMonster/pseuds/NostalgiaMonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A horrendously self-indulgent series following the events of one SPG fanbot falling for another SPG fanbot.</p><p>Set in the 1950's</p><p>I'd like to dedicate this series to Lin, because without her it wouldn't exist and neither would Lexi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Glass porch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chimera Manticore (chimeral_colors)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimeral_colors/gifts).



> First meetings and gorgeous smiles.

It was a cold Friday afternoon in the August of 1952.

From inside the glass porch of a large manor house, a small, silver android watched the harsh autumn winds whip around trees and bushes, battering leaves and branches against each as she tried to locate the audio file in her save data. After a recent... Occurrence with the master of her household, she had found her memory bank working less than efficiently. 

And after just under a year of being operational, she was quickly coming to learn to her place in the world.

A sudden burst of laughter from down the hall brought her away from her thoughts. As the laughter dissolved back into idle chatter, she turned towards the large front door and closed it gently. With the distant voiced muffled completely, she turned back to look out into the lush garden. 

Her gaze fell on the portion of pavement she could see in the space between the tall hedges where the gate stood being rattled back and forth by the wind. A different person passed by at an average of ten minutes. She willed one of them to turn into the garden and approach the house and do anything to break the humdrum of the dreary afternoon.

She had been told to accompany the Lady of her house to a gathering with other ladies of other houses to celebrate her second pregnancy. She couldn't remember what the humans had referred to it as.

An infant bath?

She watched another figure pass by and almost gave up hope before they apparently changed their mind about their journey and turned back and stuck their head around the corner of the hedge. Their face was shaded by the cap they wore and as they stepped completely into view she was taken back the state of their ensemble.  
They wore a thin beige shirt, the sleeves rolled up, underneath a brown pinstriped waistcoat, both were singed in places. She assumed this must have originally been a three piece suit, given that their trousers matched perfectly, but the figure wore no jacket. And while the outfit was by no means mismatched, it did, however, look as though it had seen much better days.

While she was more focused on their clothes, she had failed to notice that they had passed through the gate, leaving it to be battered to and fro by the wind, and were now half way down the path closing in on the door of the porch. Just as she raised her hands to wave away the ragamuffin stranger, she noticed three things:

1\. They was actually a he.  
2\. He was made of metal.  
3\. And his face was much less of an eyesore than his clothes.

During the time it took her to realise these three things, he had made his way to the very front of the house and was looking up at her through the glass of the door. Two glowing green eyes were peeking out from underneath the brim of his flat cap. He had a half smoked cigarette pinched between his teeth, framed by a mischievous smile, a smile that she couldn't tear her optics away from.

 _"Go away."_ She over exaggerated the movements of her mouth. She didn't want to open to the door to tell him to leave for fear that he may just invite himself in. 

_"What?"_ He mouthed back. She leaned forward, pressing the rubber palms of her hands flat on the window.

 _"Please. Leave."_ She mouthed again, finding herself whispering slightly. There was a long pause as he stared at her, then turned to look back up the path. When he turned to face her again, he was smiling wider.

 _"What?"_ He was messing with her. She saw his shoulders move up and down as he laughed to himself.

 _"What do you want?"_ She spoke up, no longer simply mouthing the words. He apparently heard her, since he raised a hand and motioned with a hand for her to join him outside. She immediately shook her head and crossed her arms, leaning away from the door.

 _"Why not?"_ His voiced, though muffled, was surprisingly gravelly. She did nothing but shrug her shoulders. _"C'mon."_ He egged. She shook her head, beginning to smile faintly. _"Please?"_ She rolled her eyes and dropped her arms, grabbing hold of the door handle and, against her better judgement, pulled it open just a crack.

"Can I help you, Sir?" She poked her head through the space between the door and the doorframe and spoke as sweetly as possible.

"I believe so. May I please come inside?" Whilst she appreciated his attempt at being polite, she could tell he was mocking her.

"I'm afraid not."

"And why's that?" His smirk could be heard in his voice.

"I think that would be a bad idea."

"I don't think it'd be all that bad."

"It's not my house to invite people into."

"Fair 'nough." He stroked his chin jokingly, making her smile again. "Would you like to join me outside instead?"

"No, thank you."

"Aw, c'mon. A nice gray day does li'l bots like you good."

"I don't know you."

"Oh, of course, how rude of me." He reached up to fix his collar and tip his hat. "Name's Hare. Hare Becile." He held out a hand in an offer to shake but she chose to ignore it, he didn't take it away, instead just letting it hover before her. "And your name is?" She considered for a moment while nervously biting her lip and eyeing his hovering hand. What harm could come from telling him her name?

"Lexi." She smiled wider as he edged his hand towards her, she laughed and reached passed the door to shake it. As soon as she took hold of it, he gave her arm a forceful tug and pulled her out into the garden. 

Just as her feet met with the ground she tripped over his foot and fell face first into his chest with an echoing clank. She heard him laugh above her and felt him take hold of her shoulders and pull her away. He held her at arm's length, smiling broadly down at her, he was much taller than she had anticipated. The smile was blinding up close. Her knees failed her for a brief moment.

"What on earth are you playing at?" Lexi swatted his hands away and took a step back, turning to head back inside before she felt him grab onto her wrist. "Let me go!"

"Now hang on, I just wanted to talk to ya." He let go of her hand when she started thrashing about. "Don't see many other bots around here is all." 

"Well no," She reached for the door and pulled it until it clicked shut, he smiled triumphantly at her actions, she then turned back to face him with her arms folded once more. "Robots aren't massively common." She gave his form a quick glance once again. "I've never met another one before."

"You evidently don't go to the right parts of town."

"And you _do?"_ Her tone was a bit more snarky than she intended, but he didn't seem to take any offense. In fact, he barely seemed notice at all.

"To meet other robots, yeah. I know places." He stepped towards her, closer than he had been before. "I can take you out some time, if you're interested?" Lexi's posture became lax at the offer, he'd had caught her off guard. Was he asking her on a date?

"Oh? Maybe." She began fiddling with her fingers, staring sheepishly down at the ground. She knew saying yes wasn't a possibility, but he was oddly charming, flat out rejecting the offer seemed rude. "Maybe one day. That'd be nice."

"How about today?" He bent down to meet her eye line. "Right now."

"No, I'm sorry. I can't-" She stopped when he reached towards her face and pushed aside her fringe to look into her eyes. "What?"

"C'mon, girlie. You need to get out more."

"You don't know what I need." She swatted his hand away once again, smiling shyly. There was a small click at each side of her head and the fans in her cheeks sprang into action trying to cool her down.

"Darlin'," He gently took hold of her hand. "When you've got nothin' better to do than stare out of a window, you need to get out more." He took a step back, still holding onto her, trying to coax her towards the garden gate. She followed him at first, letting him take her a few feet away from the door.

"Wait, no, wait wait." Hare turned to look at her, his smirk had disappeared and he looked disappointed. "I'm sorry, I can't- I don't-" She spared a fleeting glance back to the porch, worried that she might find somebody watching them from behind the glass. "I-I'm supposed to be working."

"Everyone needs a break."

"I've never been out by myself."

"Ya got me." His grip on her hand tightened. A reluctant grin crept across her face and after a moment of silent consideration, she spoke.

"Okay then."

"Okay... _Now?"_ He leaned down towards her again, an expectant look on his face. Lexi grinned at him and tightened her hand back.

"Okay now." Hare leapt into action as soon as the first syllable left her mouth pulling her again and she began running alongside him, clutching onto his hand as they scampered the rest of the way down the path and out of the garden gate.

They ran for what felt like hours, human faces passing by them in a blur, it was the first time Lexi hadn't paid them any mind. She was going too fast, she didn't have the time to see their quizzical expressions, she didn't think about the responsibilities she'd abandoned beyond the glass porch.  
She didn't waste any more power trying to recall the sound of the wind in the trees because now she could hear it, she could touch the leaves if she wanted to. But who would waste time on silly leaves when there were places to explore? Places with other robots- creations just like her with their own lives and purpose.

But who was he? This Hare Becile. Where had he come from? What were the chances that she could have been stood in that very spot behind the very front door of the very house that his journey took him past that very grey day?  
And if he knew so many others robots, what had compelled him to turn back and introduce himself to her? She had never met another robot before him, but to him, she must have just been another metal face in a sea of androids. 

It didn't matter, they just kept running.


	2. Unseemly inseam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've come to the decision that the chapters of this series will bounce back and forth along the timeline of Hare and Lexi.
> 
> I realised it's kind of like 500 Days of Summer, so imagine it like that.

Early morning light was pouring in through the bay window of the studio Lexi and Hare occupied.  
They had arranged a week prior to the day to meet in the town centre and make the journey here together.  
_Here_ being a free-to-use community centre situated in the middle of town, all Lexi had to do to make sure she got the room was visit beforehand and make a booking. Convenience at its finest.

It wasn't a very interesting room to look at. Four whites walls, grey carpet and a single window. There was an empty whiteboard on the wall opposite the window, and a wooden cupboard in the corner filled with an assortment of rainy day activities such as colouring books, board games and second hand toys donated from families that lived close by.

Hare was stood atop a small, wooden footstool standing as straight as he could by order of Lexi. Lexi, who was knelt at his feet scribbling away on a small notepad, with a tape measure around her neck and a pin cushion strapped around her wrist.

"How long do I hafta to stand here?" He grumbled. "I feel like one of the Queen's guards for christ's sake." 

"For as long as I need you to, now stay still." Lexi placed her pad and pen on the floor and slipped the tape measure from around her neck and held the very end against the hem of his trouser leg and began running it up the inside of his calf, and then his thigh.

“Hey, woah there!” Hare leapt back in shock, thick clouds of black smoke puffing from his vents. “What’re ya doin’?”

“Oh, calm down.” Lexi chuckled at his abashed reaction, looking up at him. “I’m just measuring your inseam, not trying to feel you up.” She tugged on his trouser leg, pulling him back towards her.  
As she ran the tape measure up from his foot, to the top of his thigh, he shuddered slightly and a forced stoic expression was on his face, which made her laugh even more. “Anyone would think you’d never been around a woman before.”

“What? I- I’ve been with women!” The smoke was pouring out now as he looked down at her with an irritated expression. “I’ve had sex with tons of girls, y’know!” Lexi sighed, his nerves would have been somewhat endearing had he not been an arse about it.  
She fancied sticking him with a pin. Draping the tape measure around her neck and picking up her notebook and pen instead, she scrawled down the measurement as he stepped down from the stool.

“I am so happy for you, Hare.” She huffed, standing up directly in front of him, stopping a good five inches short of his full height.  
His remark wasn’t best pleasing to her, it wasn’t something she wanted to know about, not really. “Arms up, lady killer.” After he’d raised his arms up from his sides, she wrapped the tape measure around his waist. 

She could feel him watching her as she wrote down his measurements, looking up quickly she glimpsed his glowing green eye looking down at her, before he whipped his head away and stared at a far off wall. She smiled at his pout, after all these years it was still funny to her how easily agitated he was. It was quiet for a while before he spoke up. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled, still facing away from her.

“Oh, you don’t have to apologise.” Slipping her notepad into the waistband of her shorts, he held the tape measure up against both of his wrists. “I know how it pains you.” She smiled faintly.

“Yeah, well,” He lowered his arms as she began wandering around his body, taking different measurements. “You’re being real nice, making me new clothes. I don’t want ya feelin’ bad or nothin’.” Lexi stopped suddenly, appearing by his shoulder, staring up at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Why would I feel bad?” She folded her arms and shifted her weight onto her left leg.  
The expression on her face made it clear she was annoyed, Hare could see this and decided to take a step back. She was small but he knew better than to underestimate her.

“I mean, y’don’t wanna hear about that, right? Cause… Y’know.” He couldn’t make any forthright accusations, just in case he was wrong. He hated being wrong.

“Cause what? Listen to me, Hare; I couldn’t care less about how much sex you have or who you’re having it with!” She realised she was being defensive and pulled herself back.  
If he was implying what she thought he was, then she didn’t want him getting the inclination that he was right. He was insufferable when he was right. Which he wasn’t. Of course. “You can do whatever or whoever you want- I don’t care."

“It sounds like you care.” He said, with a smirk.

“I don’t care!”

“Lex… C’mon.” He stepped back towards her, holding out his hand.

“Dammit, Hare, _I don’t give a shit!_ ” Lexi realised that her frantic efforts at derailing his implication were simply proving him right, rather than wrong, but he was much older than her and knew people far better.  
He chuckled at her temper, causing her rage to flare up even more for a brief moment, before she realised getting angry was useless and he already knew, as well as she did that he was right. “Why do you care so much if I care?” 

Laughing again, he placed a hand on the small of her back, pulling her towards him. He planted a small kiss on her forehead and spoke without looking at her.

“You’re a damn idiot, Lex.”

“And you’re a gigantic arse.”

“I know.”


	3. Star Valley Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two months.

"Hare, where are we going?"

"You'll find out when we get there."

"When will we get there?"

"When we get there, now keep walkin' and stop askin' questions."

Hare had been leading a blindfolded Lexi by the hand for the last hour to an unknown destination, as time passed Lexi became less sure that Hare even knew where he was going.  
She had long since lost track of where they were, if you had asked her thirty minutes or so ago she would have told you they were walking down Oakwood Lane towards the edge of town- she'd come to recognise the sound of clucking chickens in the garden on the corner, and the way path rose ever so slightly outside the butcher and then fell back down by the children's park at the end of the street.

But he was taking her somewhere she'd never been before. 

They were far out of town now, that's all she knew. The sound of car engines chugging past and feet shuffling down the pavement had gradually faded away into the distance. All she could hear now was her own feet and Hare's crunching across dried leaves on a gravel path, and every so often a slight breeze rustled through tree branches overhead.

She felt Hare stop briefly and take hold of her other hand. 

"Okay, there's a bit of a dip here, but I gotcha." She held his hands tightly and tentatively stepped forward once she felt him pull her down.  
A little way down the incline she trapped her foot underneath what she assumed was a tree root. She yelped in surprise when she felt herself fall forward, Hare laughed quietly before letting go of her hands and grabbing her waist instead, catching her in the air mid fall.

"My bad, not the best idea." He chuckled and hoisted her up. "Hold tight, sweetheart." Lexi wrapped her arms around his shoulders, smiling sheepishly as he balanced her weight on his forearm and carried her the rest of the way, using his free hand to steady himself on the trunks of trees he passed.

"Are we nearly there?" There was an embarrassed squeak in Lexi's voice that Hare chose ignore out of some form of gentlemanly decency, but she couldn't see him smile.

"Almost." Stones and dirt crumbled under Hare's feet as he shuffled his way down the last few feet of hill, he stumbled on the last step, throwing both his arms around Lexi when he felt her start to slip off of his arm. "Here we go, darlin'." Placing her down gently, he put his hands on her shoulders.

He spun her round until she was facing away from him. He smiled excitedly as he tugged at the knot of the blindfold she was wearing. When it was finally pulled away, as subtle clicking could be heard as Lexi's optics focused and adjusted to the light, of which there wasn't much. 

It was late at night and the sky was flooded with stars twinkling in a way that was so picturesque.  
The moon was full and bright, casting it's glow across the expansive field Lexi found herself in, it's light drenching the long blades of grass as they brushed against each other in the breeze, she couldn't help but imagine she was inside a John Grimshaw painting.  
Small hills rolled over one another into the distance where they were cut off by a river that, in the light, looked as though it was pure silver.

Hare stepped from behind her to stand by her side. He silently offered her a hand and a smile, she took both and offered the same in return and he began leading her, yet again, down the smooth slopes of the valley.  
Coming up on a particular rise, Lexi's eye was drawn to a flickering, orange glow emanating from behind an approaching hill. When they reached the top, she discovered it to be a decent sized bonfire that didn't look like it had been burning for very long.

"Did you light this?" She looked up quizzically at Hare.

"Nah." He replied. "I called in a favour from my Brother."

"You have a Brother?"

"Two, actually." They began their decent towards the comforting glow. "But let's not talk about them, let's talk 'bout what a perfect night this is."

Hare pulled off his weather worn jacket and laid it on top of the grass, gesturing for Lexi to take a seat, which she did, albeit very sheepishly. He sat down next to her and looked up at the sky, tapping at her leg and motioning for her to do the same.

"You look at the stars often?" He asked.

"I don't make a habit of it. My schedule doesn't usually have any openings for stargazing."

"Well, you're here now."

"There was an opening." Hare chuckled at her comment, which made Lexi smile. She always felt a special sense of pride when she made him laugh. "Besides, I don't really see what I'm missing; a bunch of twinkly lights in the sky? So?" She was attempting to be sarcastic, but she supposed it didn't come across.

"So? Whaddya mean 'So?'" He seemed personally offended. He moved to kneel, sitting back on his heels as he shuffled closer to her and placed his hand on her back, using the other to point into the sky. "So look up there and tell me that shit's not beautiful... Look at this over here," He pointed to three white dots lined up together to form a small curve. "Orion's Belt, visible every night no matter where ya are. And here- wait, when were you built?"

"Well, I was powered on this year... The 19th of February-"

"You're a Pisces, okay, look over here," Lexi followed his finger across the black sky to a formation of stars in the shape of a V with a small head on the end of both points. "That's Pisces, the fish. And if you look just above them, here, this box with all the spines coming off of it?"

"Yeah?"

"That's Pegasus, y'know, from the Greek myth? Hercules' flying horse?"

"Oh! Yeah!"

"And way over here is Hercules, see? With his sword? And down here is Centaurus, after the Centaur, obviously." He carried on like that for a while, rambling off names of different constellations and why they were called that.

Around the ninth name Lexi stopped following his finger and started watching his face instead, he was so absorbed in what he was saying and looking at, he didn't notice she wasn't watching anymore.  
She had never seen him smile like this before, it was different to his mischievous grin or his agitated grimace, it was so honest and genuine. She didn't notice he'd stopped talking until he looked down at her and spoke:

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What do you like?"

"Oh... Clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Clothes."

"What kind of clothes?"

"All kinds." He stared on at her with an expectant look on his face. "You want me to talk to you about clothes?"

"I talked to you about stars."

"Oh God, did you ever."

"So, talk to me about clothes." Hare leaned back on his hands, waiting for her to begin. Lexi watched him for a while, waiting to find out if he was joking or not, when she was confident he was being serious, she began.

"I like Suzanne Talbot, she's relatively new. She's a big fan of hats, most of her designs are for hats. It's funny, her designs remind me of Wicked Witches or Evil Stepmothers, diabolical but fabulous." Conversation rattled on for hours. "Ah, but Schiaparelli..." Hare interrupted once in a while to ask if she was making some of these names up, but he was mostly joking.

They took a brief intermission around midnight to stroll down to the river and refill their water tanks, and on the walk back to the fire, Lexi was regaled with the story of Hare's first night out by himself, which, not-so-coincidentally was the first night he git in his first fight. "I hadn't been operational for much longer than you." he'd said.

The conversation and fire burned into the early hours of the morning, and neither of them showed any signs of stopping any time soon. So they both continued to sit and talk about anything they could think of.  
If you asked, they wouldn't be able to tell you when they had decided to lay down in the grass. But if you asked Hare, he could tell you the exact moment that Lexi rolled over to rest against his chest.

He would also tell you that he didn't mind at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ignore the fact that some of the constellations mentioned are not visible in our solar system.
> 
> Whoops.


End file.
